Apparently I like being sick. At least, that’s the best explanation I can come up with for having been sick for too long. Though I have it better than many, I know.
Still, I needed something to keep my mind off being sick when I was actually able to sit up, and so I pulled out Mass Effect (ME), to see if I would actually finish it this time.
Apparently I would, since I just did.
Playing ME after playing Mass Effect 3 (ME3) was an interesting experience. For those of you that drive, the best analogy I can come up with is driving a car that is a model before or after the one you’re used to. On first driving it all feels comfortable and familiar. However when you come to do something that’s not an everyday thing, like putting on the demister, or the fog lights, you find that things aren’t quite the same as you expect. This causes a feeling of disconnect in the brain, making it a strange experience.
In many ways I prefer ME to ME3. I seem to be one of the few, but I really enjoyed driving the MAKO around. It’s a bit unwieldy, but it was a lot of fun – as was the exploration using it. I’m a bit disappointed there wasn’t actually driving in ME3.
I also preferred the way that ammunition worked. The idea of a weapon having an ‘infinite’ amount of ammo, but being limited by overheating issues was one that appealed to me. I always found the whole ‘finding heat clips’ mechanic in ME3 a little strange.
On the other hand, for all my complaints about the cover mechanism in ME3, I preferred having a bit more control there than you do in ME where cover is automatic and ‘sticky’.
I also think ME3 has the edge over ME in terms of set pieces and scenes that stir the emotions. I certainly found more things to get emotional over in ME3 than I did in ME. Perhaps it’s just that they’d learned more about how to do such things by ME3.
I’ve also found that with finishing ME I have no desire to go back and play it a different way as I started doing with ME3. I have no idea why, but there were just far too many missions that I enjoyed, but didn’t really want to play through again.
Still, I’ve finished it, and now have ME2 in my hot little paws …
